Deadlines to remember:
1. Paper topic: due by Wednesday 10/12 (please let me know which topic you want
to work on and which route you want to follow – your overall plan)
2. Paper Proposal/ Draft: due by Wednesday 11/2 (review expectations below)
3. Final paper: due by Monday 12/5 (review expectations below)
➢ There are two routes: 1) extensive literature review/summary; 2) empirical paper
with data analysis
Paper Draft/Proposal (expectations)
• At least 6 pages (ideally longer)
• Times New Roman, font 12 and double spaced and a Turnitin submission.
• Sections should be as follows:
• Introduction: explain/describe the research question that you’ve chosen
• Conceptual/Economic Framework (Theoretical Discussion): not all
papers will have this, but if your topic is rooted in a core economic theory,
this may be needed. Please talk to me about this.
• Review of Existing Literature (initial): this section needs to include what
the field has already done or what have researchers already found – what do
the results look like – include citations
▪ If doing a literature review paper: your initial literature review
should have at least 5 papers discussed in detail and written
following the style used in economics journal
articles/dissertations.
▪ For each journal article that you discuss, you need to provide
an extensive review and not simply provide a sentence or two.
Ideally you should articulate the goal or the objective (research
question) of the paper; the data, methodology, country context,
sample, etc.; and then summarize the main results and any other
additional results (such as heterogeneity or sub-sample
analysis).
▪ If doing an empirical paper, your initial literature review can be
shorter but you need to have some additional sections:
▪ Data (what data will you use) and Methodology:
what method(s) will you use? (You may conduct a correlational
analysis in this term paper; methods to arrive at causal estimates
like Diff-in-diff, regression discontinuity, instrumental variables,
etc., are not required.)
▪ Provide the (basic) econometric model if possible (i.e., the
regression equation(s)) that you will test (if an empirical paper)
• Discussion/Conclusion (needed in both types of papers): here you can
provide a summary of what more you will do after the proposal is submitted
– what I can look forward to in the final paper. You can also include your
own thoughts/takeaways/anything else you may deem important
• References (follow any citation format but keep it consistent)
Final Paper (expectations)
• At least 10 pages (ideally longer)
• Times New Roman, font 12 and double spaced, and a Turnitin submission.
• Please focus on editing your first draft based on comments given to you by
me. The sections would be as:
• Introduction
• Conceptual/Economic Framework (if applicable)
• Review of Existing Literature
▪ Students following the literature summary route need to include
at least 10 papers that are discussed in detail
▪ Students following the empirical paper route can discuss ~6
papers, but need additional sections as follows:
▪ Data and Methodology (empirical paper)
▪ Results (empirical paper)
• Conclusion
• References (follow any citation format but keep it consistent)